


What are you afraid of?

by Emilia_Dre



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22157947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emilia_Dre/pseuds/Emilia_Dre
Summary: Since I don't agree with the ending of Endgame, here is my take at it.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Kudos: 7





	What are you afraid of?

“Hey. What are you afraid of?”

Bucky had buried his face in his hands when Bruce had pressed the button that was supposed to bring Steve back. For the first time he had not been sure whether Steve would come back to him. He had the chance to spend his life with Peggy, after all. After everything he finally had a chance at the life he always wanted. And although there was nothing Bucky was more afraid of than losing Steve forever, he would probably also be the only one to understand it.

“Steve!”

A big smile made its way onto Bucky’s face when he lifted his head from his hands and saw Steve in front of him.

“You came back!”

He pulled Steve closer and pressed a kiss to his lips.

“You came back!”

“Of course, I did. I could never leave you. I love you and I can’t live without you.”

“I love you, too.”

Bucky looked at Steve astonished before he took his face in his hands and pressed another kiss on Steve’s lips.

“I love you, too.”

“Did you really think I’d leave you?”

“It crossed my mind, yes. You could have had everything you wanted. You could have spent your life with Peggy. So, yes. It crossed my mind that you might not come back.”

“You are everything I ever wanted. You are everything I need. You and our daughter. Nothing else is important.”

“And you are everything I need. And now let’s go, Mary is waiting for us.”

“Let’s go.”

Bucky took Steve’s hand in his own and together they left the forest where Sam and Bruce still stood and packed up their things. It did not escape Bucky’s notice that Steve looked back to the time machine. But he didn’t comment on it. Steve had come back to him. That was the only thing of importance.

“You’re still here”, Mary squeaked when she opened the door, “I wasn’t sure you would be.”

She jumped into Steve’s arms and clung to him for a while. He put his arms around her waist and held onto her, burying his face in her hair while Bucky just stood there next to them. Smiling at the two people he loved most in the world.

“Why wouldn’t I be here?”, Steve asked confused.

“You went shopping yesterday, you left your keys here this morning and you told me you loved me, and I should take care of Bucky and myself. So, after everything you told me about Peggy and everything you did, I thought you were contemplating not coming back.”

“Wait? Did you both think that?”

Steve looked from Mary to Bucky and both of them just nodded a little.

“You seriously thought I’d leave you to be with Peggy? You thought I’d leave the two people I love most in this world. Those I want to spend my life with for a chance with Peggy?”

“It did feel like you were saying goodbye”, Mary whispered.

“I did, kind of. But not because I wanted to stay with Peggy. I wasn’t sure the time travel thing would work. Well, I thought it would after we already did it, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. So, instead of promising you I’d come back, which I couldn’t bring myself to do, I decided to make sure you’d be alright if I didn’t make it back.”

“That makes sense”, Mary smiled, “I’m still glad to see, you’re back.”

“I could have never left you and Bucky alone. No matter what other life that would have made possible. I love you.”

“We love you, too.”

Mary let go of Steve and took a step back into the house.

“By the way, dinner should be ready soon.”

“Thank you. I have something for you. Peggy gave it to me to give it to you.”

“You met Peggy?”, Bucky wanted to know.

“I did.”

“What did you tell her?”, Mary asked.

******

“Peggy?”, Steve asked shyly when he saw a familiar silhouette waiting in front of the dance hall, she had asked him to meet at.

The person turned around and Peggy looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Steve?”

She scanned him up and down with a confused look. Her beautiful dark eyes still wide with surprise and a small smile on her lips that didn’t form into a full smile.

“Steve?”

She came closer and carefully put her hand forward, touching his shoulders, tracing her fingers along his uniform. Still not believing what she was seeing. That he was really there.

“Why aren’t you? Wait, who are you? You are not my Steve, are you?”

“You are right. I’m not your Steve. Well, I am, but I’m a future version of him. He is sleeping under the ice right now, but they will find him at some point and bring him back.”

“So, why are you here? How are you here?”

“The how is rather easy. Well, not exactly easy but I don’t understand the details, so I’m not going to try and explain them to you. Basically, we found a way to time travel. The why is a harder question. Honestly, I’m not sure why. But partly because I wanted to make sure to keep my promise to you now that I’m able to.”

“But you are not going to stay, am I right?”

Peggy smiled. A small, sad and knowing smile. She knew. Of course, she knew.

“Then let’s make the most of it. Let’s go in there and dance and then you can tell me everything about the place you come from and why you need to go back.”

Steve nodded and grabbed Peggy’s hand, following her into the dance hall. He helped her out of her coat and gave it to the cloakroom attendant. He smiled when he saw she was wearing the red dress she had worn the evening they had established the Hollowing Commando. He himself was wearing an uniform from the 1940s he had found somewhere. He held out his arm and led Peggy onto the dance floor.

“You know I still don’t know how to dance”, he said.

“Don’t worry. I will show you how to dance.”

She took his hands and moved them to the right positions, putting his right hand on her back and holding his left hand up with her own.

“Okay. This is a waltz, so you’ll start by putting your right foot forward, then the left one to the side and the right foot next to that. Afterwards you’ll step backward with your left foot, to the side with the right and close them.”

“I’m not sure this is going to work.”

“It will work”, Peggy smiled, “Just follow my lead.”

It took some time and Steve stepped on Peggy’s feet a few times but somehow at some point it almost started working and Steve felt more and more comfortable in his own skin.

“How about we get something to drink?”, Steve wanted to know after a while.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Steve took Peggy’s hand and led her to a table where no one was sitting. When Peggy had sat down, he went over to the bar and got something to drink for both of them.

“I’m sorry for stepping on your feet”, he said as he sat down next to her putting a glass of wine on the table in front of her.

“Don’t worry about it. I fought in a war, I’m going to survive you stepping on my feet a few times”, Peggy smiled, “And now tell me about how you have been. What has happened.”

“That is going to be a long story.”

“We have all night.”

“They will find me in the ice about 70 years from now. After that they defrosted me, and I became part of a team fighting to keep the world save. We fought a lot of battle and although I found friends and, in some way, even a family in the 21st century it never felt the same. I was in the wrong place. In the wrong time. I missed you and Bucky and my own life. I felt like I lived someone else’s life. Like I fought someone else’s fights. Somehow, I felt like I was turning into just a weapon for someone else. Like I turned into a weapon for S.H.I.E.L.D. and nothing more. A few years into my new life we found out that Hydra had invaded S.H.I.E.L.D. and that they had an assassin working for them. An assassin who later turned out to be Bucky. Well, not really Bucky. They had found him after the train and brainwashed him into being the so-called Winter Soldier. An assassin who killed for them again and again and was frozen between missions.”

“Wait? Bucky is still alive?”, Peggy intervened, “That explains why you need to go back. Why you won’t stay.”

“Yes. He is still alive. But it wasn’t easy for him. After our fight he went underground, and I searched for him for years. Hydra was gone but the Winter Soldier wasn’t. And when I finally found him, he was officially a felon and since I helped him escape, I had to disappear, as well.”

“Did he remember you? Did you finally talk to him?”

“It took some time, but eventually he did remember me. And yes, I finally talked to him. 80 years too late but I did. I told him what he meant to me and how sorry I was for not saving him. For not catching him. And he forgave me. After all this time and everything he went through because I didn’t catch him, he still forgave me.”

“Of course, he did. He always felt the same way for you that you felt for him.”

“Apparently he did.”

“So, you two finally made it? You’re finally a couple?”

“Yes”, Steve couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face, “Yes, we are. I don’t know how but we made it. We made it through both of us hiding and through the world kind of ending. But that is another story.”

“I’m really happy for you. For both of you.”

Peggy smiled and for the first time this evening the smile actually reached her eyes.

“Thank you. But I’m only talking about me. How are you?”

“I’m good. I’m going to go back to the United States to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. as an agent.”

“There is no job I could imagine would be better for you.”

Steve smiled at Peggy and took her hands into his.

“You’re going to be great at it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. How about we try this dancing thing again? Maybe I won’t break your toes this time.”

“Don’t worry you haven’t managed to break any of them yet.”

Peggy laughed and took the hand Steve offered her, following him onto the dancefloor. They danced for some time mostly in silence clinging to this moment they had. Knowing it would be over soon enough and they would have to say goodbye again. Forever this time.

“What are you planning to do now that everything is different?”, Peggy wanted to know when they sat down again.

“I don’t know. Maybe I am going to help rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D., rebuild your legacy, get back in the fight. For the right reasons this time.”

“You are never going to give up the fight, are you?”

“Should I?”

“That depends. Why are you fighting?”

“This time? To make the world a little saver. For the people I love.”

“That seems like a good reason. But there is something else, isn’t there?”

Steve sighed and looked at the table for some time unwilling to answer.

“I lost two good friends in the last war.”

“You feel guilty about that and that is why you want to return to the fight.”

“It is not the only reason, but yes.”

“Is it the main reason?”

”I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think Mary is the main reason.”

“Who is Mary?”

“My daughter.”

“You have a daughter?”

“I do. She is the child of two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who fought by my side when Hydra took over. They died in that fight and felt responsible for their daughter, so I adopted her.”

“You adopted a child?”

“I did. She was already seventeen when I adopted her, and I only had two years with her before I had to hide after helping Bucky go underground. She visited Bucky and me in hiding a few times and we kind of became a family.”

“I’m so happy for you. It seems, like all your dreams came true, after all.”

“They did. Even if I didn’t think it would be this way. And I do miss you.”

“And now you’re going to fight for her to be save?”

“Yes and no. She is pretty good at taking care of herself. She proved that in this last war. It’s more that I want to fight by her side when she joins the new S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“She wants to join S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

“Yes. To be honest I’m not really a big fan of the idea.”

“But you won’t change her mind?”

“I won’t. She reminds me of you a lot in that way. She is resilient and she has a mind of her own. A very strong one. And she is fierce and beautiful and a real badass.”

“She is your daughter, after all.”

“I had no hand in her becoming who she is today. Her biological parents took care of that.”

“Then she had some pretty great parents. And she is lucky to have you now.”

“And I’m lucky to have her.”

They spent the rest of the evening dancing, drinking and talking about their futures and their past. It was early in the morning when they left, and Steve accompanied Peggy home.

“I guess this is goodbye?”, Peggy asked when they made it to the house, she lived in.

The sad smile from earlier made its way onto her face again.

“I guess it is”, Steve nodded, “I’m sorry.”

Steve took a step toward Peggy and pulled her into a hug. She held onto him for some time before letting go.

“I will be okay”, Peggy said.

“I know you will.”

“So, we will meet again?”

Steve could see the hope in her eyes shining bright. He had not told her anything about her own future. But he wanted her to know this.

“We will.”

“I’ll be looking forward to that. And until then give this to your daughter and tell her, I wish her the best of luck with her carrier in S.H.I.E.L.D..”

Peggy reached down to her thigh and pulled up her dress a little, taking of her holster in the process. She slipped it of her leg, took her gun out of it and gave it to Steve.

“You want me to give Mary your holster?”

“Yes, I am an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. it will be easy for me to get a new one. And tell her that you accept her choice even if you are not a fan of it.”

Steve could read in Peggy’s faced that he wouldn’t win this argument, so he took the holster.

“I will. And I am sorry to leave you. Again.”

“It is alright. I will survive.”

“Of course, you will. You are Peggy Carter. You are the one person who can survive everything.”

Steve hugged Peggy again.

“Goodbye, Peggy Carter.”

“Goodbye, Steve.”

Peggy turned around and climbed the stairs in front of the house. Steve just stood there watching her go.

“Captain Rogers!”, Peggy exclaimed when she reached the top of the stairs and turned around one last time.

“Agent Carter.”

Steve nodded quickly and saluted. Then he turned around and slowly walked down the road. Tears running down his cheeks.

“Goodbye, Peggy Carter”, he whispered.

Then he entered the numbers into the display on his arm and vanished from London.

******

“I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been to go again. Thank you for doing it either way.”

Bucky put his arm around Steve and pulled him closer.

“It was. But it was the only way. And there are more things I love here than there are in the 1940s.”

Although Steve meant what he said he couldn’t stop thinking about Peggy’s face when he told her he had to leave again. That knowing but sad smile she had always had because she just knew things. She had always known that his heart had belonged to Bucky no matter how much he loved her. That if Bucky were still alive, he would do everything to be with him. So, when he told her where he came from and that Bucky was still alive there she immediately knew, he would go back. And she just let him go. She didn’t even try to stop him. She told him she knew, smiled and said goodbye hugging him one last time before he left. Maybe that was what love was about. Letting someone go when you know they need to go for their happiness. Either way had Peggy not let him go so easily, he might have been tempted to stay and to not return home.

Steve shook his head to get rid of the dark thoughts. And followed Bucky and Mary into their dining room.

“Let’s set the table, so we can have dinner”, Steve said.

He started getting plates and setting them onto the table while Mary finished cooking their dinner. Bucky just stood there looking at the two of them working hand in hand like a perfect team.

Who knew he would ever have something like this? A boyfriend. A daughter. A family. For the longest time he had been sure he would never have anything like it. How could he? First, he had been a gay man in the 1930s and 1940s when being gay wasn’t an option. And then he had been the Winter Soldier. He had been a brain washed assassin controlled by other people. How could he ever dream of having a family? Not that he actually dreamt when he was the Winter Soldier. And when Steve finally got him back from being a brainwashed supervillain he had to go into hiding. But somehow, they found a way. A way to finally be together. A way for him to meet Steve’s daughter. They somehow made it work. Through hiding in Wakanda. Through him and Mary being turned into dust. Apparently, even through Steve going back to see Peggy one last time. Somehow, someway they made it. And now they could spend their lives with each other the way he had dreamt about back in the war.

“To what Peggy did you go back?”, Mary asked when they all sat down, “To the 1940s or to a later version?”

“To our dance date in 1945. And as I promised I have a present for you. Here you go.”

Steve reached into his pocket, pulled something out of it and gave it to Mary.

“What is it?”

She flipped the thing between her fingers and looked at it intrigued.

“A thigh holster for when you make it into the new S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“And she gave it to you for me?”

“Yes, I told her you wanted to join the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick is going to build and she decided that you need a holster for that. So, she gave me hers and told me she could easily enough get a new one.”

“That’s so cool, thank you.”

“You are welcome.”

Mary got up and around the table to hug Steve.

“I’m going to take good care of it.”

“I know you are. And I know you’re going to make a great agent. S.H.I.E.L.D. is lucky to have you.”

“Thanks dad. I know you don’t like my choice of work, but it is what I want to do.”

“I know. And I know you’ll be great at it. You already are, after all. And I feel a lot better about it after watching you fight.”

Mary grinned.

“So, you think I did a good job in that fight?”

“Of course.”

“You did have a great teacher”, Bucky intervened.

“I had several great teachers”, Mary corrected him, “One of them even was an ex-supervillain.”

She still had a grin on her face as she sat down again.

“Who where the others?”, Steve wanted to know.

“My biological parents. They taught me how to shoot from a young age. They were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, after all. And I wanted to follow in their footsteps since I was a little girl.”

“Obviously”, Bucky grinned, “That’s why you almost outshot me when we went shooting in Wakanda for the first time.”

“It is”, Mary laughed, “Did you really not realize I knew my way around a gun?”

“I did. But I didn’t know why. And somehow it felt wrong to ask you. We were just getting to know each other, after all.”

“And you didn’t know whether you should talk about my parents considering how they died.”

Bucky just nodded.

Mary’s parents were still something he shied away from, as did Steve. They both felt guilty and that they had a part in their deaths. Not that Mary had ever blamed them or anything. Her parents had worked as agents for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Death had always been a quite possible prospect. She had known that ever since she had been a young girl and her parents had prepared her for it. They had however not prepared her for the possibility that Captain America might adopt her after their death.

Yet that was what happened. When Steve found out that the fight between Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. in Washington had left a seventeen-year-old girl as an orphan, he had decided to adopt her. He moved to the small town in New York state where she had lived with her parents before and took care of her while still searching for Bucky. Every now and then he left to follow a lead on Bucky or to save the world with the other Avengers. When he first moved in with Mary, he had asked her if she wanted him to stop being Captain America or his search for Bucky to be able to take better care of her. Obviously with two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as parents Mary had learnt to take care of herself so she insisted that he didn’t stop. It didn’t take too long for her to realize how much both the Avengers and Bucky meant to him and while she was thankful, he was there to take care of her she didn’t want him to give such important things up just for her. So, he left every now and then, but he always came back.

Soon they had built up an almost normal parent-child relationship and he started to take her with him whenever he went to the Avengers’ compound. The best thing for Steve about his relationship with Mary was however that he finally had someone he could talk to openly. Somehow it didn’t take long until they felt comfortable with talking about anything and everything. Mary started sharing things from her life in school and her plans for the future while Steve shared stories from World War 2 and the time after the ice. And Mary was the first person he ever told the truth about Bucky. He didn’t know why he told her because he had never told anyone before, but it felt good to tell her. It felt good to finally get it of his chest that he had been in love with a man back in World War 2. That he had always dreamt about being in a relationship with him but that they never made it to this point because Bucky had died before they had the chance. That while he had liked Peggy and maybe would have even been able to fall in love with her at some point Bucky’s loss had devastated him in so many ways and had crushed all his dreams of ever being able to be with him. And that this dream was more alive than ever now that Bucky was still alive. The conversation about Bucky had probably been the one thing that had brought them closest together.

*****

“Hi”, Mary grinned when Steve entered the living room, “Do you need something to eat? We have left-overs in the fridge.”

“Thank you.”

He went over to Mary and hugged her before he made his way over to the kitchen. Mary put the book she had been reading away and followed him to the kitchen.

“And? Did you find him?”

“No, we were a few days too late. He was already gone. Again.”

“You will find him”, Mary smiled, “I know you will.”

“How can you be so sure about that?”

“First, because you won’t give up until you have found him and second, because at some point he might decide he wants to be found.”

“Why would he decide that?”

“You told me that he recognized you in the end on the Helicarrier. This means while he probably is confused right now because for the first time in 70 years, he is himself and not the Winter Soldier, he will remember who he was before. And when he does, he will also remember what you meant to him back then. Which means I’m pretty sure at one point he will want to be found by you.”

“You’re forgetting the fact that I’m the reason he is going through all this. If I had caught him on the train that day, he would never have become the Winter Soldier.”

“That might be true but after everything you told me about Bucky, I’d say you’re blaming yourself more than he does or will.”

“I hate to say it, but you might be right.”

Steve sighed and turned around to the fridge going through the leftovers.

“Of course, I’m right. I`m always right.”

“You wish.”

Mary rolled her eyes and started laughing and it didn’t take long until Steve joined in. For some time, they just laughed together before the laughter slowly died.

“I do hope you’re right.”

“I know.”

Mary smiled at Steve.

“I’m pretty sure, I am sure.”

Steve started cooking some of the leftovers and silence fell over the kitchen while both of them contemplated different things.

“You miss it, don’t you?”, Mary asked after a while, breaking the silence, “Your old life, you miss it.”

The second time it wasn’t really a question but more of a statement. Steve just stared into the pan in front of him.

“Would you go back if you could?”

It stayed silent for a long time before Steve finally lifted his head, looked at Mary and answered.

“To be honest, I’m not sure.”

He paused, searching for words, trying not to hurt her.

“It’s okay. You can be honest with me. I won’t be mad.”

Steve sighed.

“It’s not about you. It’s about everything. This isn’t my life. It isn’t my time. I shouldn’t be here. So, maybe it would be better for everyone if I went back. If I wasn’t here. I don’t belong here, after all. I belong back in the 1940s. I was never supposed to end up here. I was supposed to mourn Bucky and to meet Peggy for a dance. I was supposed to stick to what I know. To maybe help Peggy establish S.H.I.E.L.D.. To give her, to give us, the chance we never had. To grow old with her.”

“You might be supposed to be there. But would you want it? After everything that happened and now that you know Bucky is still alive?”

“I don’t know”, Steve sighed, “I don’t know what I want. I feel like I lost myself so long ago and like I never figured out who I want to be in this new world, this new life. Ever since they defrosted me, I’ve been fighting just to fight or because someone told me to. But that’s not who I am or at least who I want to be. Therefore, I would think about going back because it might be the easier way for me. Back then I at least knew who I was.”

“Just because it’s the easier way doesn’t make it the right way. But I understand your reasoning and where you’re coming from.”

“I know and since there isn’t a way to go back there, there isn’t really a reason to think about it.”

“I think there is. Steve, you are never going to be happy here or feel even remotely at home if you don’t think about who you want to be. What this life should look like and why you’re still fighting. You need to find an answer to these questions. Otherwise you’ll forever long for a life you might very well never get back. And I can’t imagine that’s what you want from life.”

“I don’t. But maybe it’s what I deserve for being in the wrong time.”

“Don’t even start with something like that. You deserve to be happy maybe even more than most other people. You would have willingly given your life to save millions of people. So, if someone deserves to be happy and live their life it’s you.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile at Mary.

“You know, sometimes you remind me of Peggy a lot.”

“I guess that’s a compliment?”

“It is. She was and still is a great woman.”

“She’s still alive?”

“Yes. I’ve been visiting her quite often since I found out she was. She is the only thing in reach linking me to my old life.”

“Do you want to tell me about her?”

“Maybe I should.”

Steve turned the stove off, put his food on a plate and sat down at the dining table, motioning to Mary to sit down across from him.

“Peggy”, Steve sighed, “She was great. She was smart and fierce and a real badass and beautiful. She never took anyone’s shit and always fought for what she wanted. And normally she won those fights. She was an agent in the war. She made it to the battlefield because she wouldn’t let anyone tell her she should stay at home. She risked everything to help me when I went to save the 107th and she followed me into battle when we went to take down the main Hydra facility. And somehow, she got to know me very well even without me telling her a lot. She always knew what I was thinking and believe me I wasn’t good at talking about my feelings or thoughts. Neither was I good at talking to her. But she understood.”

“She sounds great.”

“She is. I’ve always looked up to her and I still do. And I really regret we didn’t get our chance.”

“Were you in love with her?”

“I’m not sure. I was still mourning Bucky. But I’m positive I could have fallen in love with her if we had gotten more time together. She was the only woman I ever felt for this way. There wasn’t ever another one. And I regret nothing more than not keeping my promise to go dancing with her.”

Mary reached over the table and took Steve’s hand. She smiled at him and she squeezed it lightly.

*****

“There is something else I wanted to talk to you about”, Mary said after they had eaten in silence for some time, “It kind of has something to do with what you said earlier.”

“Okay?”

Steve looked at her a little bit confused, a little bit worried.

“I know you both still feel guilty about my parents’ death and I get that. But you shouldn’t. I told you it is okay, and it isn’t your fault. And I think you need to move on. We all need to move on. And I already did in a way. I moved on when I moved to New York. When I started my own life away from home. But you didn’t. After everything that happened with going underground and Thanos and what not you still came back here. You came back to my parents’ home.”

“To our home”, Steve interrupted, “This is our home.”

“No, it isn’t. This is my parents’ home. Nothing here shows that it is your home and it hasn’t been my home in years. Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate you moving here after their deaths, but you’ve been living in someone else’s home ever since and that is not a good thing. You need to let go. Let go of the guilt over my parents’ death. Let go of everything this house represents.”

“And what would you have us do?”, Bucky wanted to know.

“Sell the house, move back to New York and pick up the fight again.”

“You want us to sell your parents’ house?”, Steve asked surprise.

“Yes. I know you well enough to know that you would be happier in New York where everything began and where you belong no matter what year it is. You need to move on from the guilt and from this. And you’re only going to be able to do that if you let go of this house.”

“But all of your parents’ things are here. Everything that might remind you of them.”

“Yes, they are. But all the memories are in me and are with me either way. Besides I let go of this place a long time ago when I moved to New York. And that, by the way, is what helped me to move on in my life. To move forward from my parents’ death and to begin being the person I wanted to be and not just the person I thought my parents might want me to be. I know it is hard and I know it hurts. Especially with Tony’s and Nat’s deaths that add to the guilt. I’m aware of that. But staying here in a house that isn’t your home won’t make it any easier. So, yes. I think selling the house would be the best choice. I can take some of my parents’ stuff with me.”

“If this is really what you want, then Bucky and I will think about it.”

They returned to eating in silence each of them somewhere else with their thoughts. Steve couldn’t help but think that maybe Mary was right. Maybe he and Bucky should start over again and what better place for that than New York where it all began so long ago.


End file.
